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Kicking one butt at a time

tattoo

I know it has been a long time since my last blog. It’s been just about eight months. My last blog was about losing my little cat Zoey. So much has happened in that time. Something in me changed the day I lost her. And I continue to change as the days pass by. This isn’t good or bad. It just is.

So not to keep you in suspense, here are some highlights that border on pure weirdness, cosmic karma, and yes, it could even be divine intervention. That’s a lot, right? Several weeks after Zoey died, I was still begging God to bring her back to me. Hopefully not like Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery scenario, but I was willing to negotiate (that’s how f’d up I was).

Book Cover (another bizarre coincidence?)

God didn’t exactly comply with my request, but gave me a sort of compromise, which was pretty cool I thought. A little stray kitty was found in our neighborhood and she needed a place to stay while the rescue group looked for her people. She looked just like Zoey, so I knew I had to volunteer to keep her while the search went on. From the photos, I knew she was similar in appearance, but the number of similarities were surreal.

Here’s a list:

Small frame, long fur, grey coat with bright green eyes

Female, 8 years old – give or take a few months difference

Loves the outdoors (on a leash now)

Sits in the bathroom while I go (yes, that’s TMI, but it’s true)

Very similar, yet very different

We tried to find her owners, but we could not, nor did she have a chip. Fortunately, she happily agreed to stay with us. So, we named her Ash Cat and she has fit in quite well with my other two kitties, Cally and Indy. I suspect my other cats miss Zoey just as much as I do and were happy to see little Ash Cat join the family. Ash Cat has been a great addition to the craziness only a house of cats can have. She brought her own little bit of weirdness into the house. She isn’t a replacement for Zoey, but more of a catalyst for memories of Zoey. When I look at her, I remember certain things or past experiences that Zoey and I shared. Sometimes the memories make me cry, but most of the time I just smile and give thanks that I had her in my life and now I have a strange little cat who looks like her. Even though my cats bring me all kinds of smiles every day, I still miss my Zoey like crazy.

Maybe I’m nuts. My husband certainly thinks I am. He has good reason, I suppose. I wear a necklace with a small bit of Zoey’s ashes around my neck. I got a tattoo with Zoey’s image on the calf of my left leg. This way, when I look down, I will always have her near me, as if she is sitting there waiting for me to stroke her fur.

She will always be with me

I still talk to her. I think her little cat spirit is still hanging out with me. I know it’s weird. I think so too, but I still do it because it feels right. I’ve lost pets before, but this is very different. Zoey and I are stuck together in a bond that transcends the physical limits of this world. And you know what? I like it. As I said, I’ve been going through some changes. That’s why I haven’t been writing as much, but I am ready to get back in the groove of writing again.

The short story I’ve been working on has turned into a novella of sorts. It’s kind of weird. It’s about coffee, of all things. Could there be zombies involved?

Perhaps. Going forward, I’m going to blog about more than my cats. I promise. Maybe I will write about my writing, or maybe I will write about doing yoga while trying to fend off a bad case of gas. That, my friends, is a toot of a story.